My Childhood With You
by xXxTsuki
Summary: Kamui, Subaru & Hotaru, the twins and the sister and their little adventures so long ago. Disclaimer: I do not own TRC. Or ny of the characters. But I own Hotaru.
1. Chapter 1

My Childhood with You

Chapter 1

A black-haired girl with beautiful golden eyes sat on the piano chair, her head bent down as she examined the music notes in her lap. The piano cover lay closed as she looked over the sheets she had found, ignoring her twin brothers sitting just outside the door. Eventually she did look up and raise the piano lid cover and the girl placed the book there, on the first page, as she rested her hands on the keys, about to strike a high note. Then the younger of the twins Kamui rushed past behind her COMPLETELY RUINING THE DRAMATIC TENSION! The girl twisted and gave him a playful yet hard blow on the head, "Kamui-chan!! You completely ruined the dramatic tension that is required before this piece of music!"

Subaru sighed as he watched his sister, Hotaru settle back into the piano seat and Kamui walk out, harboring no hard feelings but rather, he was simply rubbing his head with a small, mischievous smile on his face. Amongst normal, human children, an argument would most likely have broken out, ending with parents pulling them apart but Hotaru, Kamui and Subaru were very close and never had any long arguments. Their disagreements, if any, ended in mere seconds.

Later that day, Hotaru was still playing joyful and elaborate melodies on the grand piano while Subaru and Kamui had climbed over the garden fence, making her promise not to tell their mother, Akemi, about their little adventure to the brook some distance away. Of course, the trio knew that Hotaru was a horrible liar and the twin boys intended to return quickly, to save both themselves and their beloved sister from some type of horrifying punishment their mother would inflict on them. Unfortunately for all three, Akemi had decided that her two sons and daughter would go all the way to the other side of town to retrieve a package from a friend of their mother's.

"Okaa-san!" Hotaru said in surprise, breaking the piece she was playing and looking up at her mother, "Is there something wrong?"

Akemi shook her head and sat down next to her daughter on the seat in front of their piano, "Nothing terrible. I was about to go out to the Westerly Tower to visit Mio-san but then I get one of Rei's blue-birds saying he's got one of those special-edition silver bells that are ever so hard to find. So I need someone to get it for me." Her mother, amber eyes aglow, turned to Hotaru, "So can you and Kamui and Subaru go there together to get your mother her silver bell?"

Hotaru was amazed, her mother looked so mature and elegant yet…she acted like a child, "Oh…okay I guess."

Akemi had flowers and stars twinkling around her, "Thank you so much Hotaru-chan! My little firefly! When I get back I want to see that bell on the table!"

As her mother left, Hotaru breathed a massive sigh of relief, "I'm so glad she didn't ask about Kamui-chan and Subaru-chan but now I have to find them and get to Rei-san's place…" The young vampire frowned as she noticed the fence outside seemingly tilt as Kamui and Subaru climbed over and dropped onto the grass, narrowly missing the flowerbed. Hotaru raced outside and grabbed them, dragging them to the front door at high speed while explaining. In the end, the favour they had to do for Akemi turned out to be a race, as they returned, carrying the silver bell, a relay that involved carrying something ridiculously heavy to replace the baton.

Subaru pushed open the door, panting and entered, while his siblings held the door open for him. The young vampire placed the bell, intricately designed, onto the table in the hallway and went outside with his brother and sister, both panting, sat on the grass, watching butterflies wander from one flower to the next. The trio stayed there for hours, in fact, until the grandfather clock chimed to signify 10 'o clock. It had been four hours since they returned when Akemi finally returned and squealed with delight after seeing the bell.

Afterwards, Kamui spoke, "You know, we could have spent ages moving that and okaa-san wouldn't have noticed when she came back."

Hotaru and Subaru nodded, "Or maybe she got the key stuck in the door for three hours." Hotaru said.

The twins sweat-dropped but when you thought about it, I wasn't that unlikely.

**Author's Note: LOL XD the siblings used so much effort just to bring that bell back and ****realised**** that they had an extra three hours. And Hotaru's name means firefly ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

My Childhood with You

Chapter 2

Kamui sat beside his brother, Subaru in the large oak tree, violet eyes sleepy. "Subaru, did we _have_ to wake up so early?"

Subaru grinned, in the half-light, "Yes. It's not every day you see Rei's flock fly from his tower and scatter, beautiful white-"

Kamui huffed, "We've seen that over and over, every year. Hotaru hasn't bothered looking for years."

Subaru frowned, slightly annoyed at his twin, "That's because Hotaru doesn't accept nature's gift-"

Kamui yawned as Subaru started is sentence and broke him off, "I just want to go back to sleep."

"Kamui, that's being horrible to me!" Subaru reprimanded, green eyes narrowed a fraction.

At that moment, as Kamui opened his mouth, Hotaru poked her head out of her bedroom window which happened to be beside the tree, "Kamui! Subaru! Be quiet! You two are going to wake everybody up if you keep arguing!" The golden-eyed girl pointed up, "Just wait for the birds." And she turned around, hurriedly attending to her hair with black ribbons.

In the tree, Subaru was grinning, "See, Kamui? Hotaru-chan wants to see the birds too."

Kamui frowned, "She's probably only coming to stop us killing each other." He scratched his head, and turned to Hotaru's bedroom window, where she was nodding furiously to answer his statement while she had a comb clamped between her teeth.

Subaru sighed as he watched and a second later, realized he had contradicted himself.

Hotaru climbed onto the window sill when she was finished and jumped onto the closest branch before scrambling up to her twin brothers, "You two are extremely troublesome. The main reason I'm looking after you two is because last time, both of you decided to go on a little hike up the mountain after watching. And I swear that there was an avalanche before you came back."

Kamui and Subaru looked at each other guiltily.

Hotaru noted their gaze and the girl nodded, "I thought so. At least okaa-san is so air-headed she didn't really connect the two of you with the avalanche." Her golden eyes traveled between theirs, "I did. But it was so funny too." And she started giggling uncontrollably.

Kamui frowned, "What's so funny?" Subaru too, leaned towards his elder sister for an answer.

Hotaru grinned at them, holding back hysterical laughs, "When all those rocks started tumbling down, you could hear you two swearing really loudly." And she let loose, laughing, "I didn't know that my twin brothers can synchronise their swearing too. Okaa-san was wondering why I was laughing later that day." She wiped away a tear produced by the laughing, "Oh, that was rich."

The twin vampire brothers, suddenly felt very uncomfortable, that was the only thing about Hotaru. She remembers every embarrassing thing that has happened to you and torments you with them for the rest of your life. And the rest of your life is quite long it you're a vampire.

Their train of though broke as some white feathers drifted around them and their eyes turned to the sky, awed by the ridiculously large amount of birds that flew above them, scattering beautiful white feathers that did no harm to their flying.

Hotaru stared and murmured at the same time, "I swear, there are more every year. It's about time Rei sold some of them to high bidders…"

Kamui and Subaru nodded, whilst gazing at one of the wonders that their little vampire community threw at them.


	3. Chapter 3

My Childhood with You

Chapter 3

Hotaru threw open her window in the clear, winter morning and breathed in deeply, a smile on her face. Winter. Beautiful, cold, snowy, winter. It was her favourite season. She turned around to her wardrobe and pulled on a black cloak and lowered herself out of the window, landing in the ankle deep snow.

She looked up at her bedroom window, glad to be outside and ran through the garden, a smile on her face. Hotaru stopped by the only flowers in the white garden that was blooming and knelt in front on the snowdrops, gazing at their white petals. She wanted to touch them but she refrained, as they looked so fragile and beautiful, like they would break if she dared touch. Hotaru smiled and stood but she froze as she did.

Hotaru turned slowly, registering slight movement through the trees some distance away and sprinted into the trees after the figure. She stopped when he did, her nails extending and becoming claws. It was probably gut instinct, but this person was after Kamui and Subaru. She could feel it. "Who are you?"

He didn't turn around but he did answer…but not to the question, "I'm looking for a certain pair of vampires. But no matter, I won't reach them today…" He promptly left, scaling the walls in one jump and disappeared.

Hotaru stared up at the mansion they lived in, especially at one of the windows from Kamui and Subaru's bedroom. She sighed and walked back to the house, claws gone and she pushed open the door and silently slipped back inside. The vampire began up the stairs but stopped when Kamui and Subaru decided to jump off the stairs at halfway.

They all landed in a heap in at the bottom of the stairs and Hotaru sighed as she sat up.

Subaru looked up at her, "You went out early this morning. We thought we would follow you."

Kamui nodded, "But we didn't think you'd be back so soon."

Hotaru smiled, "It's a one off, next time, and I'll be up earlier while it's still snowing. And I bet you two won't be able to wake up and jump on me that time."

They all ended up laughing and they stopped when they heard a door swing open from up the stairs and looked at one another. _Door. Signal. Danger. Akemi. Torture. Go. To. Rooms. _Theystood and sprinted up, before locking themselves in their rooms. Being on Akemi's bad side in a cold morning was a bad thing. And one thing she didn't love about her children was their continuous, early morning adventures.

Later that day, the siblings went on with their normal, lives, Hotaru on the piano, the vampire twins outside in the garden, only coming inside when they felt like it or when their mother threatened punishment. When Akemi finally left the mansion, they all heaved a sigh of relief simultaneously. Avoiding mischief for a day was so tiring.


	4. Chapter 4

My Childhood with You

Chapter 4

Hotaru sat by her window, gazing down at the large garden beneath her, sparkling a brilliant white. She also stared down at her twin brothers, Kamui and Subaru, brimming with jealousy. It was so unfair. The mischievous twins were much naughtier than her, and they weren't the ones locked up in their bedrooms. And even more unfair, he mother, Akemi had foolishly decided that playing the grand piano at seven in the morning is near the top of her black list. It wasn't even harmful to her health! And what's more, her torturous punishment did not involve anything violent, rather, mental torment.

While Kamui and Subaru ran around in the beautiful snow, she was locked up in her room that had a hundred different bolts on the door. Naturally, one would get VERY irritated and jealous as they stared out the window. Hotaru also knew for a fact that Akemi was probably out, running some kind of errand that lasted at least six hours. And so, the golden-eyed girl had decided to set herself a goal: bust yourself out of here and lock yourself back in before Mother comes home. True, it sounded so easy, but what about the hundred different locks and bolts attached to your door outside?

Hotaru took a deep breath as she faced the door, her golden gaze digging into the annoying slab of wood. She let her claws grow on her left hand as she set to work.

Subaru stopped chasing his brother in a game of tag and looked up, wondering why Hotaru wasn't staring out the window anymore. Kamui and Subaru had previously agreed to the idea of tag as it would definitely irritate her. But now, she wasn't there and he didn't enjoy the idea of being outside the cold when they didn't really need to. "Kamui, I think Hotaru isn't watching us anymore."

Kamui emerged from behind a wall and looked up at her window. "I think she's trying something…bad."

As if they had rehearsed it, the twins bolted inside and jumped over the ridiculous barricade Akemi had set up at the base of the stairs. Kamui reached her door first and stopped at the strange sight. Hotaru had ingeniously attached string to every single lock and bolt and was about to release them all.

They all tightened and the door swung open. The swinging motion itself was pretty incredible as the metal locks and bolts should have weighed down the wooden door so that it couldn't slide easily. Hotaru stepped out from behind it and grinned. "It's good to be free." She launched herself off the top of the stairs and rushed outside, laughing. She ran through the snow, carefree and joyful, acting like a five-year-old on Christmas morning. Of course, that day would come too.

As the hours wore on, Hotaru ignored the magnificent grand piano that stood inside and gloried in the sunlight and brilliant snow around her. Hotaru's troubled dreams of the mysterious trespasser evaporated and the only ominous warning hanging over her was the hour hand on the clock moving towards the dreaded number. Kamui and Subaru did nothing and acknowledged the fact that they could no nothing to calm Hotaru's hyperactive joy. What they could do though, was shout to her when the clock struck seven and she would bolt back indoors and proceed to locking herself in.


	5. Chapter 5

My Childhood with You

Chapter 5

~Flash to Future~

Hotaru sat at the tower of her bedroom, looking down at the still-beautiful garden. Snowdrops still bloomed like they had so long ago. Snowflakes danced in the breeze like they did many years ago. Ice butterflies still fluttered around crystal flowers like they did ages ago. Kamui and Subaru were absent from the garden as they should not have been for years and years.

The golden-eyed girl regretted her ignorance and silliness the day Seishiro emerged from the depths of her dark memories and wrecked havoc. She was kneeling on the floor, close to tears, elbows on the windowsill and thinking of the days she enjoyed so much. Hotaru had cried her heart out when Kamui and Subaru left-because of her. And their leaving had been reflected around her.

That night, she had cried freely and her tears spilt on the floor, each one increased the beautiful waves of ice forming, covering the walls and floor. Hotaru was a magical disaster, letting her energy reserves pour out around her, with no care. She had cried since that night, celebrating her brothers' escape as well as mourning over their absence. Now, she stayed alone, in the beautiful, frozen hell she had created for herself and stayed away from the grand piano, or at least, never touching the keys she used to love to tap out melodies on.

~Return to Past~

Kamui waved the scissors around in the air absent-mindedly. He was currently debating on whether or not to snip this certain flower off its stem. Snowdrops, cyclamens, white roses, lavender and lilies were Hotaru's favourite flowers, snipping off one from her little flower garden was on the top of her black list. Akemi did not know this and coincidentally asked Kamui to make a nice arrangement of flowers, if he did not, she would force him into a skimpy maid's dress and order him out to get the same arrangement from the florists' anyway. Naturally, he was highly against that suggestion so he agreed to Akemi's absurd request.

Subaru sat inside, reading a book on the large, black velvet couch and occasionally stealing glances at his twin brother outside that was dangerously waving around a pair of scissors that he might throw explosively somewhere at moment's notice. Deep down, he pitied his brother but was also thoroughly amused, currently forgetting that it may be his turn the next day.

Hotaru was sitting at her grand piano, and Kamui happened to disappear into the spot she couldn't see from her sitting position-which was also where her flower garden was…she paused her elegant playing and stood, entering the white garden where Kamui was kneeling over her garden, "Kamui-chan."

Kamui felt a shiver down his spine and turned, looking up at his sister, "Hi, Hotaru."

"Why are you waving a pair of scissors above my flower garden?"

It was an extremely difficult question and situation to wriggle out of. "Okaa-san told me to make...um, an arrangement of flowers with snowdrops, cyclamens, lavender, lilies and roses,"

Hotaru sighed knelt beside Kamui, no doubt Akemi had included that he wasn't allowed to go out and buy them. "There's a patch of cyclamens in the trees there, you can have two white roses, there's lavender in the trees and by the front door, you'll have to find your own snowdrops, it's easy, as for lilies, have a poke around the stream."

Kamui brightened up when she spoke and he hugged his sister tightly however, when he let go, she had an evil grin on her face, "After you get all the flowers, feel free to hand out the washing, pack away the drying dishes, dust the three bookcases in the study, clear out the cupboard infested with spiders and carry the new miniature plant that arrived by the door this morning to this end of the house."

Author's Note: all the flowers listed don't bloom at the same ^^ but I think they look nice together. And don't flame me for the first bit .


	6. Chapter 6

My Childhood with You

Chapter 6

Hotaru stirred in her sleep slowly opened her golden eyes, fixed lazily on the wall directly in front of her. She usually ever woke before dawn and if she did, something was wrong. She rubbed her eyes as she slid out of the covers, looking over the garden that was beginning to burst as spring approached. _Oh yes, that's what's wrong. Okaa-san is leaving today for a trip. _But why was she disturbed at all? When Akemi left, leaving the three children behind, Hotaru felt no change in her daily routine except for the presence of more freedom. And yet today, felt so incorrect, so insecure, and so dangerous. When she looked away from the sky and down at the garden, she saw that brief movement once more in the trees.

And frowned, yanking a black cloak out off her chair. She pulled it on as she jumped from the top of the stairs and running outside into the garden the moment her feet touched the ground. Hotaru ended up with a feeling of déjà vu, chasing this person again through the trees, but this time, she caught up. Maybe it was the absence of snow or just the nervous feeling she had the moment she woke, but she caught up and ended up with the man pinned against a tree, her claws threatening a bloody death. "This is the second time. Go away."

He grinned, "But I can't, I've found the pair I was looking for and they're your brothers aren't they? I'm so incredibly excited to meet them-"

Hotaru had one of her claws pointing straight in between his eyes, "I don't want to see your ugly face ever again. Promise you'll leave us alone."

If he was afraid, he showed no evidence of it, instead, he was smiling in a kind, cheerful, unbelievably cheeky, and irritating way that was sprinkled with evil, "But I can't do that. How can I promise something that I can never do?"

Hotaru nearly killed him right there-why hadn't she?

~Arrival at present~

If she did, none of this would have happened. Hotaru would still be here, cheerful as ever, with Kamui and Subaru. Hotaru sat by the piano, thinking over that memory. If she had removed that insolent man from the face of the earth, she would not end up, locked in her hell, alone, thinking over her mistakes. She sighed, knowing that she was then, still a child. Murder was something she couldn't have on her conscience-something she could not bear. So that was shy she told her brothers to run.

~Arrival at a different past~

Hotaru stepped onto the ladder and looked up at the towering shelves. There were so many books to look through and so many she was forbidden from. Her golden eyes strayed to the door and she hastily turned around, focusing on finding the book that held some of the most powerful magic secrets in the universe. Hotaru ran her fingers over the spines of the books but stopped at a large, thick one that had no label. She frowned and pulled it out. The "pulling out" part wasn't as easy as it sounded. It required so much force to extract, that Hotaru fell from the ladder, landing on her back on the floor. If it was an ordinary child, they would surely have died; Hotaru sustained no injuries apart from a slight ache as she slipped out of her mother's library.

As she slipped out, Akemi grinned from her hiding place, a dark corner. She was proud of her daughter, so ambitious, so determined to help those she could. But still, that was a very powerful spellbook she just let slip away from her grasp. _I should rethink these things…_


	7. Chapter 7

My Childhood with You

Chapter 7

Hotaru opened the heavy book as she lay on her black satin bedspread. The first page was blank, the next decorated heavily with gold leaf in the shape of flowers. What interested her, was how there were, so far, no words. The third page revealed nothing but an image of a many-pointed star. Hotaru kept flipping through the pages, none of which had any words or letters of any kind. She closed the thick volume and moved to her desk, thumping it down. Hotaru grabbed a magnifying glass and placed it over the many-pointed star, the lines that made up the drawing seemed rather crooked but that was all she could make out. Hotaru stepped away from the book and sat down on the floor, thinking of the ways to read the book. She thought over the many tricks and spells she had learnt and though of something.

Hotaru turned to the front cover and studied the corners, the edges-then she found it. It was an imprint in the shape of a moon, as though someone had been pressing some type of stamp into the cover for ages until the shape stayed. Once she found that-the book was easy to read. She needed moonlight to read the book – but knowing that, the book most likely had to be read in one attempt, if not, and tried to be read again by the same person, it would probably combust. At least, that was what she suspected. She slipped silently downstairs, to study the grandfather clock. It was still afternoon, ours until the moon appeared, and so she would have to do nothing but wait until the time was right to read the book and find a way to save her twin brothers.

The same person now sat at the same table she had sat at many years ago, running her fingers over the book's cover. A layer of frost had settled over it in her rage and she could choose to remove it. But she did not. What would be the point? Was there a point? Probably not, she had read the book cover to cover in one night and become one of the most powerful people in the universe. Many would kill for such an object.

Of course, outside this vampire world, no one would ever hear of the book. Everyone in this world had vanished and she had successfully sealed any entrance way into the world. Exit was still possible. Her golden eyes drifted into the sky. It was always like that now. The sun and the moon hanging there, stars never moving either, even the clouds there didn't move. Nothing changed. Flowers were constantly blooming, butterflies constantly fluttering, nothing slept. Nothing changed its state of mind. She had frozen time and was the master of this small world. Only she changed, only she was capable of changing. She had frozen time in this world to wait for her brothers and make sure that everything would be the same. Everyone else had disappeared, and were waiting to be brought back to their home as soon as the twins returned. They would, of course they would….

She would wait for them until they came back.


	8. Chapter 8

My Childhood with You

Kamui sat in a tree on a cloudy day that seemed to reflect his feelings. Basically, he was sulking, and why? Becaused Subaru got to go to an antique blood convention with his mother while he and Hotaru stayed here. Of course, if he had (as Hotaru had pointed out) stayed a good little boy and not climbed up, Akemi would definitely have taken him along. Hotaru had made it clear that she didn't want to go the night Akemi mentioned it and she threw a vase at Akemi.

Kamui blinked from his thoughts when he heard a shuffling sound – like someone walking through the bushes behind him. It could have been Hotaru, but she never walked through plants, let alone make sound. He turned around, curious.

Who was this strange man? Kamui had never seen him before. He lowered himself off the branch, landing on the grass beneath with a muffled thump. He then looked at the odd person standing in front of him, "Who are you?"

He knelt so that he was at Kamui's height – which wasn't very high – and smiled an odd, somewhat welcoming smile. However, Kamui's deeper, natural instincts were screaming at him, telling him that he was in a dangerous situation. That he should get up and run. Kamui was frozen though. His conscious mind said that it was perfectly fine to stay, albeit a bit strange. Deeper, he was quaking in fear.

Hotaru blinked when she heard voices. The golden-eyed girl, now in the image of a 14-year-old girl, looked out to be horrified by what she saw. She threw down the thick volume she had been looking through and instead of taking the stairs, launched herself straight out of the window.

She landed with ease and without wasting a second, went straight for Seishirou. Hotaru would have not been ready for Serishirou's attack if she had been younger and less experienced. But in between the last time she had seen him and now, she had grown. Of course, not without Akemi's expert training.

Kamui watched his sister's rage and was surprised by it. Never had he seen such a ferocious look in her eyes which were usually filled with joy and amusement. "Hotaru-"

Hotaru looked at her brother, knowing that he was worried and that this wasn't what she was normally like. She smiled a small smile, "I'll be fine, Kamui."

Kamui wasn't satisfied, who would be? He scrambled to his feet, both irritated and worried with his sister, "How the heck would you know?"

Hotaru paused, thinking for the answer that would definitely puzzle as well as reassure her hot-headed sibling, "I'm sure."


	9. Chapter 9

MY Childhood with you

Chapter 9

Hotaru swore under her breath when she was knocked to the ground, Seishirou's black blade pointing straight at her face. She wanted to scream at Kamui and tell him to run, but her brother was frozen, not sure what to do. If she did move, Hotaru knew that without a doubt that she would die. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again, wishing that there was a way out of her position.

"Do you know why I came to see your brothers?"

Hotaru did not know and she didn't want to know. But it would most definitely prove useful if she did so she kept silent.

"Because there are several benefits I could get out of them." Seishirou paused, as though thinking over a glitch in his plan (which was exactly what he was doing). "I was hoping that Subaru would still be here. Of course, he isn't which makes kidnapping those two much harder-"

"What the hell!?" Hotaru had screamed from her odd position. She knew that it was a stupid thing to do but she simply could contain herself. "Kid-napping? Oh great, now we have some weird pervert on our hands-" She used her claws to knock away his sword while he was slightly distracted and got to her feet, "Of course-"she turned to Kamui, "-I was joking."

Kamui sweatdropped, his sister was in a life threatening situation and she was cracking jokes? "Hotaru-"

She whipped around, "Kamui, please shut your mouth."

"Well, you are in a life-threatening situation…yet you make jokes." He muttered under his breath. Kamui wondered if he could run, Hotaru certainly wanted him to. But if he ran, then what? How would he know if it was safe to go back home? How would he know where to run if it wasn't safe?

Hotaru spoke as though answering Kamui, "Don't run Kamui. There's no point." And there certainly wasn't as Seishirou jumped the high wall at the same time the tall gates opened. She breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed Kamui's arm, almost dragging him back indoors. "Kamui, please go to the front door and welcome them back." Hotaru looked down at her attire, "I need to change." Akemi would definitely wonder why her dress was ripped and dirty.

Kamui started thinking as he walked to the door, why did Hotaru act as though nothing has happened at all? At least, why did she act as though it was nothing? He paused his thoughts when he opened the door and welcomed the other members of his family back inside. Kamui pressed the play button when he was back in his room and started thinking again.

Hotaru entered after something like half an hour of silence and slammed the door shut. She even locked it for good measure. "Kamui, you are about to do something that will change your life forever."

"What?"

"Understand things."

"Greaaaaat." I was not great.

A/N – I did not expect to have it done so fast XD amazing…


	10. Chapter 10

My Childhood with You

Chapter 10

Kamui was standing on the roof of their home, Subaru beside him, only he was sitting down. It was a cold, night, the twins had long black cloaks, clearly too big for them. Both had their cold fingers clutching the velvet material closer as the freezing wind whipped around. Kamui had his eyes narrowed, and a frown on his face, "Can't she hurry up?"

Subaru looked up from his sitting position to study his brother. "Hotaru's got homework has-". The look on Kamui's face quickly stopped him.

Kamui sighed and turned away, wishing he had explained about the problem instead of just telling his twin brother that they were leaving. Fortunately for him, Hotaru appeared next to him at that moment, "Hey, little brother." At the sound of her voice, he shivered. Had her voice been so cold before? Has it ever seemed to be hiding something? But he shoved those thoughts away, for later.

Balancing on the roof, Hotaru walked to Subaru and knelt helping him up, it had rained earlier that day and the tiles were a little slippery. Subaru studied his sister's face. She had a warm smile, yet it was not full. Not complete. Her whole face seemed to be displaying joy of some form but it disturbed him. Hotaru did not smile like that.

When Hotaru smiled it was brief. It would be a fraction smaller than that smile. And her real smile would have a tinge of annoyance in it that said _why'd you make me grin? _But this wasn't the same smile the twins had grown used to.

And like a butterfly that realised it was about to be caught, the smile disappeared, like a butterfly that took off into the sky. "Okay, Kamui, Subaru, I'm going to send you to the next world. It's safe and you'll have to talk to a certain lady as soon as possible. People call her the space time witch." Hotaru paused for a moment, as though listening for an eavesdropper before continuing, "She's going to ask for something in return for the ability of travelling worlds on your own. It will be something very precious."

Kamui and Subaru stared up at her. The violet and green gazes held the same expression. Curious and worried. Kamui dared a question, "What will she want from us?"

Hotaru paused, wondering how to explain, "Okay. Do you remember when Mum was talking to our uncle about the theory of different dimensions? You know, that day when there was a blizzard outside and we had just finished dinner and-"

"-our uncle came in the door and Mum almost went beserk getting him to shut it. We remember." Subaru quickly finished off for his sister.

Hotaru nodded, "Okay, she was talking about it to uncle and we were listening through the door. You guys were too young to remember the important part, but the bit you forgot about the person you are about to meet. And to quote uncle ,'_whatever that woman will take from you will probably be your greatest treasure, or at least something you can barely live without' _and if you managed to not fall asleep and creep out again to listen you would have heard him say, '_in our case, because we want to get home, she's probably going to take the memory in us that instinctively knows where home is'. _"Hotaru finished, a great intensity in her voice, "Do you get it know?"

Kamui and Subaru nodded, silent. Now they got most of the picture. They had a guy chasing them, they're going to be able how to travel worlds, their aim is to get back home, only the witch is going to make that job difficult for the, Kamui managed to get the words out, "We might never make it back."

Hotaru then grabbed her two beloved brothers and held them tight in a hug, "I don't believe that," she was trying her best to hide the fact that she was crying, "You two will definitely make it back. Sure you're young. No one's done it before. But you'll definitely make it back."

Now it was Subaru's turn to speak through the tears that were blurring his vision, "But you don't know if we will. We might get caught, or lost, or-"

Hotaru shook her head slightly, "I don't think so. I'm sure you'll be back. Definitely." Her golden eyes were closed and for some weird reason she didn't understand, she had a small smile on her face. "I'm sure you'll come back. I'm sure you won't get caught. And I'm sure that your home will still be here when you come back."

With those words, she let go of the twins and drew back. A magic circle of her won creation sprung out from beneath her, a slim, large crescent moon was in on one side, five stars spread out along the other. In the gap left, a flower in the shape of a snowdrop was present. Various runes were dotted around the outside and the whole thing gave out a brilliant light, which managed to brighten the whole sky, shining like the sun. Her twin brothers had fallen unconscious as they were drawn to their destination by the harmless magical tendrils that gently pulled them away, up into what looked like a portal that had formed in the sky, the exact size and shape and directly above her magic circle.

Hotaru watched, long black hair whipping around her, her golden eyes never left her twin brothers as they left her world, their world. She whispered, tears suddenly gone, "I'll wait for you two. Forever. When you get back, everything's going to be the same again."


	11. Chapter 11

My Childhood With You

Chapter 11

Hotaru had been wandering around the garden when she felt that tell-tale rippling feeling. Kamui and Subaru were coming home. The butterflies that had surrounded her previously scattered as the sky appeared to ripple then two figures appeared in front of her, strong torrents of wind whipping around them. Just like she had, they too, looked different. They had grown. Hotaru smiled, overjoyed to see them once more. Her two brothers back from their journey they took to run from a hunter.

They didn't speak when they embraced, Kamui first then Subaru. They were happy to just lay eyes on one another. Their meeting was special. Kamui was the one who spoke first.

"Hey."

Hotaru smiled and looked down, she didn't want them to see her cry. It was something she had done so much of but it was the first time she had done so due to joy. She managed, "Good to see you again." Through her tears.

Subaru turned when a butterfly landed on his shoulder as he did so, a wave of something started spreading around them. Because time was stopped, it ran to catch up, they watched seasons pass, trees grow taller, flowers spread, the grass grew taller. The house had managed to become something of a ruin.

The three vampires stared in awe at what Hotaru had caused. They then started laughing, all suddenly wiping away tears.

In between his laughs, Subaru spoke, "Do you think you can still reach your piano?"

"Maybe."


End file.
